CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY

Longueval ​​​Somme

​France

Longueval is a village approximately 13 kilometres east of Albert and 10 kilometres south of Bapaume.

Caterpillar Valley Cemetery lies a short distance west of Longueval on the south side of the road to Contalmaison.

GPS CO-Ordinates Longitude: 2.792 Latitude: 50.02619

Historical Information

Caterpillar Valley was the name given by the army to the long valley which rises eastwards, past "Caterpillar Wood", to the high ground at Guillemont.

The ground was captured, after very fierce fighting, in the latter part of July 1916. It was lost in the German advance of March 1918 and recovered by the 38th (Welsh) Division on 28 August 1918, when a little cemetery was made (now Plot 1 of this cemetery) containing 25 graves of the 38th Division and the 6th Dragoon Guards. After the Armistice, this cemetery was hugely increased when the graves of more than 5,500 officers and men were brought in from other small cemeteries, and the battlefields of the Somme. The great majority of these soldiers died in the autumn of 1916 and almost all the rest in August or September 1918.

Of the burial grounds from which Commonwealth graves were taken to Caterpillar Valley Cemetery:-

CLARK's DUMP CEMETERY, BAZENTIN, was a little West of High Wood, on the road from Bazentin-le-Petit to Flers. It contained the graves of 26 soldiers from the United Kingdom, and two from South Africa, who fell in August-December, 1916.

GINCHY GERMAN CEMETERY (500 metres North of the village, between the Flers and Lesboeufs roads), in which two unknown British soldiers were buried.

McCORMICK's POST CEMETERY, FLERS, nearly two kilometres West of Flers village. Here were buried 19 soldiers from the United Kingdom, nine from Australia and nine from New Zealand, who fell in September-November, 1916.

MARTINPUICH ROAD CEMETERY, BAZENTIN, contained the graves of 41 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in July and August, 1916.

SNOWDON CEMETERY, BAZENTIN, in Bazentin-le-Grand village, contained the graves of 24 soldiers of the 38th (Welsh) Division who fell in August and September, 1918.

WELSH CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL, between Flers village and High Wood, in which were buried 17 soldiers of the 38th (Welsh) Division who fell in August and September, 1918.

CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY now contains 5,569 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 3,796 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 32 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to three buried in McCormick's Post Cemetery whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

On the 6th November 2004, the remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier were removed from this cemetery and entrusted to New Zealand at a ceremony held at the Longueval Memorial, France. The remains had been exhumed by staff of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from Plot 14, Row A, Grave 27 and were later laid to rest within the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, at the National War Memorial, Wellington, New Zealand.

On the east side of the cemetery is the CATERPILLAR VALLEY (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL, commemorating more than 1,200 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and whose graves are not known.

This is one of seven memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died.

From Lismore, NSW, . A farmer prior to enlisting, he embarked from Brisbane aboard HMAT Itonus (A50) on 30 December 1915. He was killed in action on 4 December 1916, in France, aged 36. He had previous service in the Boer War with the British Army.

Son of John Joseph and Caroline Ann Ede, of Gray Terrace, Rosewater, South Australia. Born at Port Adelaide.

A carpenter from Rosewater SA prior to enlistment, Pte Ede embarked with the 3rd Reinforcements from Adelaide on RMS Morea on 23 August 1915. On 5 November 1916, aged 19, he was killed in action.

3920 Private, F. C. Vogan witnessed Cyril's death, he wrote:

"He was very popular with us all. He was killed in the attack on Flers on November 5th. It had been raining hard and the ground was very bad. As soon as we mounted the parapet we were met by heavy machine gun fire and several who were beside me fell, so that I never expected to escape. Cyril Ede was close to me and as soon as he mounted our parapet he was hit on the forehead by a machine gun bullet which split his skull across and killed him instantly. He fell forward over the parapet. The attack did not succeed and we had to come back."

A bank clerk from Rose Park, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 15th Reinforcements from Adelaide on 20 November 1915 for Suez. In mid-May he was transferred to the 50th Battalion which relocated to the Western Front, France, in June 1916. Pte Harvie was initially reported as wounded in action near Bapaume on 19 November 1916 and was subsequently confirmed as killed in action on that day.

"I saw Harvie killed in Gird trench on the Somme, in front of Flers, by the explosion of a shell. He had a shocking wound in the back, quite a foot long. He was evacuated on a stretcher and died before we got to the Regimental Aid Post."

2324 RiflemanHenry Hudson2nd Bn. King's Royal Rifle Corps.8th September 1916, aged 37.Plot II. G. 9.Son of Abel Hudson; husband of Jane Hudson, of 21, Southgate St., Winchester. Served in the South African Campaign. Born at Burnley.

Son of Jonathan and Mary R. Peacock, of Austral St., Long Bay, New South Wales. Born at Perthville, New South Wales.

From Parramatta, he was a clerk prior to enlisting, he embarked from Sydney aboard the HMAT Ceramic (A40) on 13 April 1916. He was killed in action on 10 November 1916 near Gueudecourt, France, aged 20.